Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1138762
THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT T H E O P P O N E N T S Penn State prepares for another daunting East Division slate, highlighted by a home showdown with Michigan F or a couple of programs that seem on the surface to be evenly matched, Penn State and Michi- gan sure do play a lot of lopsided foot- ball games. Like two overpowering tennis players facing off in a Grand Slam final, the Nittany Lions and Wolverines keep mashing unreturnable serves at each other. In 2016, Michigan thrashed the Lions, 49-10, in Ann Arbor. The fol- lowing year, Penn State turned the ta- bles with a 42-13 victory at Beaver Stadium. And last year, as part of its so-called Revenge Tour, Michigan dominated the fourth quarter en route to a 42-7 home victory. A few days after the last of those three games, James Franklin summed up the tenor of the Penn State-Michigan se- ries lately. Said the Nittany Lion head coach, "Seems like whoever has been the home team the last couple of years in this series has had a lot of success." So now it's the Nittany Lions' turn to serve. Are they capable of handing Michigan another lopsided loss? This year's game is set to take place on Oct. 19 and is going to be a White Out. The kickoff time hadn't been an- nounced as of this writing, but there's a very good chance it will take place at night, and the combination of a prime time showcase and a roaring crowd has frequently brought out the Lions' best in recent years. And yet, all signs are pointing to a much closer game this time around. Yes, the Lions will have all that White Out mojo working in their favor. But that didn't save them from a fourth- quarter collapse against Ohio State last year, and this year's Wolverine team is being touted as a potential College Football Playoff contender, despite the loss of Rashan Gary, Devin Bush, Chase Winovich and Karan Higdon. Even if the Nittany Lions are able to hold off Michigan, they still won't be out of the woods when it comes to the Wolverines' troublesome home state. The following week, they head to East Lansing to face Michigan State. The Spartans have won five of their past six games against the Lions, including the past two at home. Making matters even more difficult, Michigan State will be coming off a bye week when it welcomes PSU to Spartan Stadium. The Spartans are among four opponents who have off-weeks before facing the Lions. The others are Indi- ana, Maryland and Minnesota. By con- trast, Michigan will only face two opponents that are coming off byes (Wisconsin, Notre Dame), and the same goes for Ohio State (Northwest- ern, Rutgers). The Nittany Lions will face eight op- ponents that played in bowl games last season: Buffalo, Pitt, Purdue, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Ohio State. Three of those teams – Buffalo, Pitt and Ohio State – played in their respective conference champi- onship games, although only one of them – the Buckeyes – came away vic- torious. This being an odd-numbered year, Penn State and its East Division com- patriots will play five Big Ten road games in 2019. Two of those games will be in venues where they've had their share of success. The Nittany Lions have won their past two games at Iowa, romping to a 38-14 victory in 2012 and scoring a walk-off touch- down in a 21-19 thriller in 2017. Their past two visits to Maryland were not thrillers, as the Lions won 70-7 in 1993 and 66-3 in 2017. Their all-time record in College Park is 13-1, and they've gone 3-0-1 against the Terra- pins in Baltimore, technically a neu- tral site. This year's trip to Maryland will kick off the Nittany Lions' conference sea- son, but the stretch that may deter- mine whether they are ready to contend in the Big Ten East Division comes in October, when they face Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State in succession. If a youthful Penn State team can hold serve through that gru- eling 15-day span, it may have some very bright lights shining on it come November. ■ | P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >>